Intertwined
by spilche
Summary: Velvet ribbons entangled. [implied: TezuRyo, FujiRyo, TezuFuji]


**Intertwined**

Author: scube / spilche (frivolity @ forbidden-lover . net)  
Featuring: Echizen, Tezuka, Fuji  
Disclaimer: The Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi. Yes.  
Notes: This is a gift ficlet for Min :) Happy Birthday!

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"Congratulations, Echizen, for getting into the school team."

Echizen turned and regarded the person who had just spoken to him. It was difficult to tell from the smile on this person's face, whether he was being sincere or sarcastic as some of his seniors had been.

Echizen made a somewhat non-committal noise and proceeded to ask perfunctorily, "And you are?"

"Oh, sorry, I almost forgot." The other person was smiling warmly now. "Fuji. Fuji Shuusuke. Third year. Nice to meet you. I really hope we can get to play one day."

"Echizen Ryoma. Nice to meet you too," Echizen replied out of courtesy and walked out of the clubroom.

----------

Echizen hadn't lost to anyone since he first came to Seigaku and he wasn't prepared to do so yet. Until the day when his captain requested for a match.

He was surprised at first that Tezuka had asked to play against him, and was even more surprised later that the match was to be conducted outside of school. He turned up as promised, not quite knowing what to expect. He had never seen Tezuka play before and he was curious as to what made his captain quite so legendary. The idea of competing against the unknown was strangely exciting.

And then, he was totally shaken.

It really wasn't long before he realised he didn't quite have a chance against Tezuka. Tezuka was just so much beyond him.

"Be strong, Echizen," Tezuka had told him then, when he finally kneeled feebly on the court in exhaustion. "Become the pillar of Seigaku."

Echizen didn't show it overtly because he wasn't exactly the excitable kind but he had honestly felt extremely honoured to hear this coming from a player so skilful himself. 

He went home as dusk fell and all he could think about was his new aims.

----------

There was once when Echizen ran into Tezuka and Fuji along the corridor, which was already decidedly curious to begin with since their classrooms were supposed to be quite far apart.

The air around Tezuka seemed a little different from usual as he listened to Fuji speak. Tezuka had looked relaxed whilst Fuji's smile had seemed a lot more genuinely full of mirth. These were sides of Tezuka and Fuji that Echizen had never seen. Echizen considered hiding round the corner so that he could avoid any potential awkwardness in having to greet his seniors but unfortunately, it was too late to be any more discreet. They had already spotted him as they were walking. So he decided to act his nonchalant self again as he said 'hello' but to his surprise, even Tezuka did so much as to smile at him in the midst of his conversation with Fuji. It wasn't a wide, in-your-face kind of smile (and Echizen decided that it would be really scary if Tezuka had done that anyway) but subtle as it was, it was also sincere.

Echizen felt a little warmth creep upon his cheeks as he continued down the corridor. He had felt pleasantly surprised. Yet, at the same time, he felt a little let down, as if somewhat belittled in the presence of his seniors. He also didn't think he was the one who really brought those happy glows to their faces.

It seemed as if Tezuka and Fuji belonged to another world.

----------

The Seigaku tennis team seemed a little more restless on some days than others, and there was little Echizen could really do than to painfully endure those endless streams of inane banter and teasing, especially from Momoshiro and Kikumaru. Inui's specially concocted vegetable juices seemed to be getting out of hand too. Echizen thought if he were to plot the frequency of their undesired appearances of late, he would have derived an exponential curve. (Then, he got a little appalled at himself at this point, that such a geeky idea almost characteristic of Inui himself had actually crossed his mind at all.) Echizen would never openly admit -- but he was utterly petrified of them, after having been knocked out beyond consciousness by them so many times.

Then, each time he spotted Tezuka walking into the courts, he felt tremendously grateful and delivered. Echizen also noticed that Tezuka had this particularly stern expression that he reserved for times like these.

Peace, at last.

And he'd think smugly to himself, that any more nonsense would surely result in laps around the courts.

"Echizen, stop daydreaming! Be more serious!"

Hmm. Mada mada no mada da ne.

----------

That match in the rain had been particularly impressionable to Echizen.

It had been a fine day when out of the blue, the dark clouds just came racing by and the sky became sullen and overcast. Then, rain descended upon them, first like a drifting cool mist, that later accelerated to become almost like a deluge.

For one thing, it was the first time he actually played in the rain and even though the court was wet, slippery and cold, he decided that he rather liked the feel of the water trickling down his neck. The rain did nothing to dampen his spirits. Instead, he liked feeling the rain in large droplets splashing arbitrarily upon his arms. It was then when he actually felt a strange sense of liberation as he danced gracefully across the courts.

The other thing was of course Fuji-senpai.

To begin with, Echizen still didn't understand why Fuji always smiling like that. Curiously, this time, he was sure the smile on Fuji's face was real even if it hinted of danger.

Fuji was simply fascinating and even more so after he performed the second of his Triple Counters for Echizen to see. Fuji was like a stolen ship, full of little treasures hidden, only waiting for Echizen to explore and to savour. Fuji kept posing more and more challenges each time Echizen came up with something new.

It was intriguing.

He loved the thrill that was Fuji-senpai.

He didn't even want to stop playing until Ryuuzaki-sensei had come along and given the both of them a piece of her mind. He was annoyed because he was sure he was on a winning streak even though Fuji had won one more game than he did.

Instantly, Echizen saw Fuji as a rival -- a rival in ways more than one.

Some days when the world was tinted a shade darker and then shrouded in a fine spray of rain, he still wondered why Tezuka had arranged for Fuji to play against him that day.

----------

Everything about Fuji -- his unassuming smile, his refined and boyish way of speaking, his slender and seemingly frail limbs -- seemed like a blatant lie. Beyond that facade, Echizen saw a prowling animal, wild, energetic, and sometimes frighteningly beautiful.

"Fuji-senpai, you're a terrible liar," Echizen murmured sulkily once.

"Oh?" Fuji sounded amused but offered nothing in his own defence.

"There you go again," Echizen sighed, exasperated. 

"Saa, so you wouldn't believe me if I said you're cute?" Fuji asked most innocently.

"......" Echizen shifted the visor of his cap distractedly.

"Mada mada da ne, Fuji-senpai."

"Echizen," Fuji let out a soft chuckle. "It's still too early for you to win me."

----------

Echizen was sitting at the coach's bench when Tezuka was playing Atobe during the Seigaku-Hyotei prefectural match, so he had an exceptionally good view of what was happening on the court. 

"Buchou..." he had verbalised involuntarily, as to seeing so much pain, yet even more passion and perseverance from Tezuka.

He never expected, never at all, that Tezuka would lose. Tezuka had put up such a tough fight against Atobe despite his injury; it was heart-rending even for Echizen to watch.

Sometimes, the world was much more unfair than anyone could expect.

"Do you still remember what I told you under the overpass 2 months ago?" Tezuka had asked him later, just before his match.

"Yes," Echizen answered resolutely, gripping his racket tighter than before.

And now, more than ever before, he felt a furious need to win; he felt the need for redress.

For once, he wanted to win, so much more for Tezuka than for himself.

----------

When Echizen first heard about Tezuka having to go to Germany, he was stunned. He couldn't quite explain why he was feeling so but it felt as if something inside him had somehow tangled up into a dead knot. Then he quickly stole a glance at Fuji, wondering how he was taking to the news, and Echizen knew that Fuji was probably feeling as unsettled as he was, if not more.

Sometimes, regardless of how hard Fuji tried, certain things just cannot escape Echizen's eyes.

The next few days blurred into a dull haze. Fragments of irrelevant thoughts and memories clouded his mind and he felt somewhat lifeless. Tomo-chan continued to squeal his name loudly whenever she saw him round the corner but it didn't even get on his nerves one single bit.

If Echizen were to become the pillar of Seigaku, then who was to be his pillar?

----------

Echizen was sitting alone in the clubroom because he was a little early for practice. He was fingering a tennis ball distractedly when the door opened with a soft click.

"Echizen? You're early."

"Fuji-senpai."

Fuji took the seat beside him and smiled gently, "A penny for your thoughts?"

"Hmm."

A brief silence fell upon the both of them and suddenly, Echizen spoke.

"Fuji-senpai, you're upset, aren't you?"

"Saa," Fuji began cautiously. "What about?"

"Buchou..."

Fuji artfully avoided answering. He merely smiled his usual, non-committal and somewhat quizzical, as if deliberately shrugging the question off. Then, he stood and looked ready to go.

"It's time for practice," Fuji sounded firm but Echizen remained rooted on the bench, his large round eyes now shadowed by his favourite cap.

"Ryoma-kun..."

Echizen flinched slightly when the faint scent of vanilla from Fuji's hair and the wisp of his warm breath swept across Echizen's weary face. He suddenly felt very conscious of Fuji's presence; Fuji had come up so close to him without him noticing at all. Fuji's soft and low voice seemed to have melted something in his heart.

The next moment, all he felt was a brief brush of Fuji's lips against his own and he almost recoiled at the abruptness of this little encounter. He thought that at the rate his heart was going now, all that force was surely going to dismantle his ribcage soon. When he looked up, all he saw was Fuji smiling at him again and looking so flippant it was almost grating.

"You too... ne?"

Echizen did not answer. But he noticed that Fuji's smile now entailed a trace of sadness.

----------

"Echizen, you played a good game," Tezuka had told him in the clubroom after their last match before Tezuka was leaving for Germany. Almost as expected even by Echizen himself, he had lost to his right-hand-wielding captain, but he still couldn't help feeling a little indignant. Failure was still rare for Echizen. He adjusted the visor of his cap slightly so that his eyes were partially concealed.

"Buchou. You're coming back, ne?"

An awkward silence lingered as Tezuka gazed out of the window, his expression solemn and slightly pensive.

"Ahh."

And they once again lapsed into another bout of silence.

"Hmm. You have to. Because I'm going to beat you when you come back," Echizen declared, his eyes now fierce with defiance and determination.

Tezuka said nothing but wound his left hand over Echizen's narrow shoulders to draw him into a loose hug and all Echizen remembered of it was the faraway warmth of Tezuka's slender body and the fresh fragrance of floral soap.

"If you can."


End file.
